Argos will put five new ultra-low-emission Scania P340s into service by the end of the year.
The Euro-6-compliant Scania 4X2 tractor units (diesel powered version pictured) will run solely on compressed or liquefied gas and will be based at Argos’s Magna Park, Lutterworth DC.
Refueling will be handled at the GasRec station at Crick. Each truck will be fitted with a total of eight 103-litre compressed natural gas tanks, which will give a maximum range of up to 500km, depending on weight and application.
When run on pure biogas, the vehicles emit up to 70% less CO2 than a conventional diesel engine, and generate less noise too.
Argos is a member of the government low carbon truck demonstration trial, which was launched in January and saw participants unlock around £11m of subsidies.
Its five gas-powered vehicles are the only ones of that type in the trial, which is biased towards dual-fuel trucks (diesel version pictured).
Argos fleet engineer David Landy said: “It is an exciting prospect to be the first to put dedicated gas-powered trucks into service. We look forward to taking delivery of them and evaluating their performance over the long-term.”
New rules to ensure the build-up by 2020 of more refueling points for vehicles using alternative fuels have been formally adopted by the European Council (EC).
EU member states will now have to set and publish firm targets for the rollout of such facilities by the end of 2016.
The EC has indicated that it wants member states to come up with targets of at least one electric vehicle recharging point per 10 electric vehicles by 2020.
It also wants liquefied natural gas (LNG) points every 400km on the TEN-T core road network by the end of 2025; and compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling points in urban and suburban areas, as well as on the TEN-T core network every 150km by the end of 2025.
Picture: A conventionally powered Scania.
By Emma Shone
